Lookup Vin

{
  "answer": {
    "check_digit": {
      "carried": "X",
      "computed": "X",
      "position": 9,
      "valid": true
    },
    "model_year": {
      "basis": "cycle_ambiguous",
      "candidates": [
        1989,
        2019
      ],
      "code": "K"
    },
    "vin": "1M8GDM9AXKP042788",
    "wmi": {
      "country": "UNITED STATES (USA)",
      "key": "1M8",
      "key_length": 3,
      "make": "Motor Coach Industries",
      "manufacturer": "MOTOR COACH INDUSTRIES, INC.",
      "vehicle_type": "Bus"
    }
  },
  "delivered_at": "2026-08-22T00:00:00.000Z",
  "schema_version": "vin-lookup.v1",
  "source": {
    "coverage": "Structural decode only, from a bundled snapshot of the NHTSA vPIC World Manufacturer Identifier table (10,659 WMI records, cut in ascending WMI key order from the 12,971 candidates in the lite 2026_08 publication; 2,312 further candidates were refused by the bundle sanitizer and counted) plus the closed-form rules of 49 CFR 565.15 (Subpart B) and 49 CFR 565.25 (Subpart C). Answers: the position-9 check digit verdict, the WMI's recorded manufacturer, make, vehicle type and registered country, and the position-10 model-year code as a candidate set from 49 CFR 565.15(d)(1) Table VII and 49 CFR 565.25(d)(1) Table XIII, narrowed to a single year only for passenger cars, the one class whose disambiguation rule does not depend on a gross vehicle weight rating this snapshot does not carry. The check digit refuses MOST transcription errors, not all: 49 CFR 565.15(c) Table III assigns several letters the same value, so substitutions and some transpositions within a value class are undetectable.…",
    "name": "NHTSA vPIC World Manufacturer Identifier register, lite 2026_08 publication",
    "snapshot_sha256": "42e1abe3c24d2c60226922209cd79016e4a534deea5d4db8637ba22c4427891f",
    "vintage": "2026_08"
  },
  "subject": {
    "type": "vin",
    "value": "1M8GDM9AXKP042788"
  }
}

# bash or zsh: see the payment challenge. Nothing is charged.
curl -sS -g -i 'https://lookups.alienprobe.ai/v1/lookup/vin?vin=1M8GDM9AXKP042788'

# x402 v2 sends the challenge base64-encoded in the PAYMENT-REQUIRED header (v1 sends it in the body).
# To read the header:
curl -sS -g -o /dev/null -D - 'https://lookups.alienprobe.ai/v1/lookup/vin?vin=1M8GDM9AXKP042788' \
  | grep -i '^payment-required:' | cut -d' ' -f2 | tr -d '\r' | base64 --decode

// npm i @x402/fetch @x402/evm viem
import { wrapFetchWithPayment, x402Client } from "@x402/fetch";
import { registerExactEvmScheme } from "@x402/evm/exact/client";
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";

// Pays at most $0.005 per call.
const client = new x402Client().setSpendControls({ maxAmountPerPayment: "$0.005" });
registerExactEvmScheme(client, { signer: privateKeyToAccount(process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY) });
const pay = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client);

// Not sure it's safe to pay? ToolVet checks it first for $0.005. Pay for that from a separate
// client: this one is capped at $0.005 per payment. GET https://toolvet.app/api/v1/check?url=https%3A%2F%2Flookups.alienprobe.ai%2Fv1%2Flookup%2Fvin
const res = await pay("https://lookups.alienprobe.ai/v1/lookup/vin?vin=1M8GDM9AXKP042788");
console.log(res.status, await res.text());

# pip install "x402[requests,evm]"
import os
from eth_account import Account
from x402 import x402ClientSync
from x402.http.clients import x402_requests
from x402.mechanisms.evm import EthAccountSigner
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact.register import register_exact_evm_client

# Pays at most $0.005 per call.
client = x402ClientSync().set_spend_controls({"max_amount_per_payment": "$0.005"})
register_exact_evm_client(client, EthAccountSigner(Account.from_key(os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])))

with x402_requests(client) as session:
    res = session.get("https://lookups.alienprobe.ai/v1/lookup/vin?vin=1M8GDM9AXKP042788")
    print(res.status_code, res.text)